单词 | 二十五年 |
释义 | 〔plantation〕It has probably seemed ironic to more than one reader that the same wordplantation appears in the name Plimoth Plantation, a settlement of people seeking freedom of religion,albeit their particular form of religion,and also as the term for the estates of the pre-Civil War Southwith their beautiful mansions for the white elite and their hovels for the oppressed Black slaves.These two uses of the wordplantation illustrate two sense developments of the word, which is first recorded in Middle English asplantacioun in a work probably written during the first quarter of the 15th century. Latinplantātiō, the source of our English word, originally meant "propagation of a plant, as from cuttings,”but in Medieval Latin developed other related senses,such as "planting,” "foundation, establishment,” and "nursery, or collection of growing plants that have been planted.”The two senses that were used in New England and in the South can thus be explained.The Plimoth sense is derived from the notion of a settlement or colony that has been established or planted in a new country.The Southern sense goes back to the notion of simply planting crops,in this casecrops such as tobacco or cottonthat are grown on estates or farms in subtropical or tropical climatesand were at one time worked by slave labor.同样的单词plantation 出现在名称 Plimoth Plantation (普利茅斯种植园)中,这对不止一名读者来说,可能看起来是具讽刺意味的, 该名称指寻求宗教自由的人的小型社区,虽然他们的宗教形式很特别,也是作为内战前南方庄园的术语,指供高贵白种人居住的漂亮公馆和受压迫的黑人奴隶居住的破旧茅屋。单词plantation 的这两种用法说明了这个单词两种意思的发展, 其以可能于15世纪最初二十五年创作的一部作品中的plantacioun 形式首次记录进中世纪英语。 拉丁文plantatio 是我们这个英语单词的词源, 最初意为“植物的繁殖,如通过供插栽小枝,”但是在中世纪拉丁文中又发展了其它的相关的意思,例如“种植、”“建立、设立”和“苗圃或已被种植的活的植物的集合。”这样,用在新英格兰和南方的这两种意思就能够解释了。普利茅斯种植园的意思是从在新的国家中建立或移民的新拓居地或殖民地的概念中引申出来的。南方庄园的意思则可追溯到简易耕种作物的概念上来,在这种情况下,例如烟草或棉花等农作物,生长在亚热带或热带气候的庄园或农场,且一段时间以来由奴隶种植〔naughty〕Words have changes in their fortunes over time just as people and institutions do.The wordnaughty at one time might have been high on one's list as an all-purpose word similar to bad or nice. During the 16th centuryone could usenaughty to mean "unhealthy, unpleasant, bad (with respect to weather), vicious (of an animal), inferior, or bad in quality" (one could say "very naughtie figes" or "naughty corrupt water"). All of these senses have disappeared, however,andnaughty is now used mainly in contexts involving mischief or indecency. This recalls its early days in Middle English (with the formnoughti ), when the word was restricted to the senses "evil, hostile, ineffectual, and needy.”Middle Englishnoughti, first recorded in works written in the last quarter of the 14th century, was derived fromnought, which as a noun had senses such as "evil,”as a pronoun meant "nothing,”and as an adjective could mean such things as "immoral, weak, useless.”Nought was descended from Old English nāwiht, with similar senses,a compound made up ofnā, "no,” and wiht, "thing, being.” Thusnaughty, in a sense, has risen from nothing,but its fortunes have been better than they are at present.正像人们和制度那样,词随着时间改变了意思。单词naughty 曾一度作为类似于 bad 或 nice 这种通用词语而列于某人的词汇表中。 在16世纪,人们可以用naughty 来指“不健康的,不舒服的,坏的(和天气相关的),邪恶的(动物),较劣的,或质量坏的”(人们可以说“非常坏的人” 或“不健康的被污染的水”)。 然而所有的这些词义都消失了,现在naughty 主要用于关系到顽皮或不妥的上下文中。 这使人回想起它在中世纪英语的早些时候形式为naughti , 当这个词被限定为用作“邪恶的,敌意的,无用的,和贫穷的”意思。中世纪英语的noughti 最先记录于写于14世纪后二十五年的著作中, 是由nought 派生而来的, 作为名词用有“邪恶”的意思,作为代词用是“没有”的意思,和作为形容词为“不道德的,虚弱的,无用的”。Nought 是从古英语 nawiht 中传下来的, 并且有相似的意思,由na “没有”和 wiht “事情,事物”组成的合成词。 这样naughty 从某种意义上来说, 从没有中生出,但是其意思却比现在的这些意思好得多〔ofay〕The commonly seen etymology ofofay —Pig Latin for foe —is perhaps of less interest than the more likely story of this word's origins. The word, which is first recorded in the first quarter of the 20th century,must have been in use much longer if it is, as some scholars think, borrowed from an African source.Although this source has not been pinned down,the suggested possibilities are in themselves interesting.One would trace it to the Ibibio wordafia, "white or light-colored.” Another would have it come from Yorubaofe, a word that was said in order to protect oneself from danger. The term was then transferred to white people,regarded as a danger to Black people throughout the wretched days of slavery and beyond.ofay 一词的最常见的词形变化是 foe ,一种儿童黑话说法——可能更有趣的是关于这个词来源的故事: 在20世纪前二十五年里有次记载,如果按一些学者们所想,如果它是从非洲借过来的,它被使用的时间应更长一些。虽然这个说法还没有定下来,但它蕴含的可能性本身就很有趣。人们可能将它追溯到一个伊比比奥词afia ,意思是“白色或浅色”。 另还有人将它追溯到约鲁巴语ofe ,这个词是为了保持自己,避开危险的意思。 此后这个术语被移用于白人,这些白人在奴隶制及以前的悲惨日子里,被认为是对黑人们的危险 |
随便看 |
|
英汉汉英双解词典收录301015条英汉双解翻译词条,可根据汉字查询相应的英文词汇,基本涵盖了全部常用汉字的英文读音、翻译及用法,是英语学习及翻译工作的有利工具。